Should Manufacturer's Tell Us More About Crossovers

Well, of course we all want to know more. :) But it's like looking behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. No manufacturer wants customers looking at part cost as the measure of the product. They want you to look at things like Modernity, and Advancement and Brand. 

It depends though.  Some makers like Magico have their crossovers built entirely out of top line parts from Mundorf.  Others like Wilson put their crossovers in pots to make it harder to reverse engineer them, or see just how cheap they are. 

It is also true that a little crossover knowledge is a dangerous thing. All sorts of misconceptions and myths take hold and you have fools  comparing crossovers by the number of parts, or whether a crossover has a Zobel or not.   On the other side of the spectrum, I wish reviewers actually evaluated the crossovers themselves, they would find they have been subjected to quite a bit of trickery themselves.  

And you are not obsessing, but perhaps you need to build your own to sate your curiosity?  Try my free plans for the LM-1. 

Maybe you'll get hooked and decide DIY is the only way to go. :) 

Of course you're obsessing, it's what audiophiles do through no fault of their own :) Nice manuever Erik, I certainly hear you!

On a further note, there should be no reason for a successful manufacturer of a finished speaker design to reveal anything more than is required for said manufacturer to remain relevant in the marketplace, IMHO. Inquiring minds may want to know but do they really NEED to know to make a purchasing decision?

http://pbnaudio.com/speakers/speaker-kits/scanspeak-b1371


Above is my latest kit design, use a fancy parts as you wish for the crossovers :-)  if you click backwards in the link there another 5 kit plans with XO schematics to go crazy with.

Best of Luck


Peter

Bruce Thigpen, designer and maker of the high-value best-buy Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker, not only describes that speaker's crossover but puts a diagram of it on his website for all the world to see. Nothing to hide, unlike the maker of the most well-known magnetic-planar speaker ;-).